Memorial Day

So what's the first thing that pops in your mind?

Three day week-end?

Mini vacation?

Sleeping in?

Pool parties?

Cookouts?

Time to get stuff done around the house?

School's out revelry?

All of those things are truly necessary, enjoyable and/or deserved and I shall be engaging in all but the last this week-end!

But this year is going to be a little different for me. Okay, a lot different because of:

Spring Break this year, which included a day trip to Gettysburg. The visual imagery our guide shared, as he drove us around the battlefield in our own car was chilling. I mean chilling to the bone.

Meeting WWII vets last year. Looking into the watery eyes of an 80 year old vet as he thanked me for thanking him was a lesson in humility and grace and hope.

The safe return of one of my co-workers and the shipping out of another for a second tour(he, who on his first tour, was one of the medics who helped rescue Jessica Lynch, remember her?) They are so young and so brave and so scared and so real. And because I have walked and talked and laughed and complained with them, my anxiety and prayers are so much more intense.

So it will be different and much, much more personal than it has ever been in the past.

And as I munch my chips and burger and watch my kids splash in the pool, my silent mantra all day long will be "thank you...thank you...thank you."

I have never faced and taken a bullet for freedom,(thank you God) but I most certainly can thank and pray for those who have, and do and will.